Archdiocesan seminary vandalized with pentagrams, 666, Milton

News-Times, The (Danbury, CT)

Published
1:00 am EDT, Wednesday, June 7, 2006

YONKERS, N.Y. (AP) - A few hours after the end of 6/6/06, vandals spray-painted satanic graffiti - including a quote from "Paradise Lost" - around an entrance to the New York Archdiocese's seminary, officials said Wednesday.

Pentagrams, upside-down crosses and the numbers "666" appeared in several spots between the main gate and the door to St. Joseph's Seminary in Yonkers, said Monsignor Peter Finn, rector of the seminary.

An excerpt from
John Milton
's 17th-century masterpiece, the story of Satan's rebellion against God, was sprayed on the entrance columns. On one column, the words "It is better to reign in hell" appeared; on the opposite column was written, "than to serve in heaven."

The phrase "reign in blood" was also found, on the front steps. A pentagram marred a statue along the driveway.

Finn said he doubted the vandalism was "kid stuff."

"It's very symmetrical and it uses the word 'reign' and of course quotes from Milton," he said. "Now the average adolescent I don't think necessarily would be that clever or that proper."

Police said the spray-painting occurred between 3 a.m. and 7 a.m. Wednesday. Tuesday had been heralded as "devil day" because the date could be abbreviated as 6/6/6 and 666 is mentioned, in the Book of Revelation, as an identifying mark of the devil.

Six churches in Douglas County, Nev., were vandalized on Tuesday.

"It certainly would seem to be more than a coincidence, particularly in the light of the fact that we've never had anything like this occur in 110 years of the seminary's existence," Finn said.